RBC Capital Markets has continued its build-out in research with the appointment of two of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s top-ranked retail team.

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Richard Chamberlain and Mark Wallis have both recently resigned from the US bank, according to three people familiar with the situation. They are set to join RBC Capital Markets, the people said.

The hires are a coup for RBC. The research team led by Chamberlain ranked top in the 2014 Institutional Investor rankings for equity research in the retailing/general sector, while Chamberlain personally ranked second in the 2013 Thomson Reuters Extel rankings for non-food retail research. Wallis, meanwhile, ranked top for specialist sales in the 2013 Extel rankings in the non-food retail sector.

Financial News reported in early May that RBC was set to make hires to cover the healthcare, telecoms, media and technology, and consumer sectors across research, sales and advisory.

Since then, it has lured a team of telecoms analysts and salespeople away from Barclays, including team co-head Jonathan Dann. That team ranked third best in the Institutional Investor 2014 All-Europe research rankings for telecommunications services. The bank has also hired David Plowman, a senior banker in Citigroup’s consumer products team.

The hires in advisory are being led by Joshua Critchley, who became sole head of European investment banking at RBC Capital Markets on May 1. Graeme Pearson, who joined the bank last year from Nomura, is heading the research effort.